Tunisia Opens First Domestic Violence Shelters for Women with Disabilities

This article is co-published with Egab.

For years, Salma Ahmed navigated life with quiet strength. Blind since childhood, the 29-year-old from Medenine in southern Tunisia faced immense challenges within her own home, where violence and mistreatment from family members were a daily reality.

“My father used to beat me a lot. He didn’t hesitate to do it in front of others. Once, a teacher at school had to intervene to stop him,” she told More to Her Story. “I believe that, in some way, it was related to my disability.”

“I was too afraid of how my family would react if they found out,” she explained.

Like Ahmed, social stigma and fear of retaliation kept yet another visually impaired woman, who elected to remain anonymous, from speaking out. She endured escalating abuse from her son and daughter-in-law before they ultimately forced her out of the family home. Seeking safety, she found refuge in a shelter for women survivors of violence in southern Tunisia. Yet while the shelter offered her temporary protection, it fell short in other ways. Like many shelters across the country, it lacked the resources and infrastructure to adequately support women with disabilities.

Tunisia has long been seen as a regional leader in women’s rights. But for women like Salma Ahmed — and others living with disabilities — those rights remain largely inaccessible. A recent study shows that Tunisian women with disabilities, particularly those with visual or hearing impairments, are disproportionately affected by domestic violence.

The country now faces a critical reckoning with gender-based violence: according to a national survey by Tunisia’s Ministry of Women, at least 47 percent of women have experienced domestic violence in their lifetime.

But some activists say a long overdue shift may finally be underway. A new initiative backed by the United Nations and led by Tunisian civil society groups is seeking to help women with disabilities. The effort includes renovating shelters, training staff, and pressing for policy reforms to ensure that shelter officials don’t overlook women with visual and hearing impairments. 

According to Tunisia’s Ministry of Women, Family, Children, and Seniors, 74 percent of women in Tunisia reported experiencing spousal abuse in 2021. A recent study by the Arab Women Center for Research and Training, based in Tunis, found that women with disabilities, particularly those with sensory impairments such as blindness or deafness, face an even greater risk of domestic violence than women without disabilities. The United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women supported the study .Despite laws that protect equal access to education and healthcare for men and women with disabilities, the study found stark disparities in employment rates between men and women with disabilities. Researchers concluded that women with sensory disabilities face disproportionate barriers to economic independence, compounding their vulnerability to violence and marginalization.

Bouraouia El Akrebbi, secretary general of the Tunisian Organization for the Defense of Persons with Disabilities, recalled how childhood peers excluded her from conversations about love and marriage. “They called me ‘the blind one.’ It was as if I had no right to dream of those things, simply because I was different,” she said.

But the very stigma that once confined her became a catalyst for defiance. After decades of enduring exclusion and dismissal, El Akrebbi emerged as an advocate for people with disabilities. During the height of the pandemic, the group appealed to several ministries, urging them to adopt measures that would support workers and women with disabilities from rising domestic threats.

El Akrebbi’s identity was reduced to her disability, a stigma that silences women and emboldens abusers.

In 2017, Tunisia passed landmark anti-violence legislation called Law 58, hailed as a breakthrough for criminalizing domestic abuse and protecting survivors — but advocates argue its promise rings hollow for women with disabilities.

 “Law 58 does not account for our needs,” El Akrebbi said. 

The statute includes no mandates for Braille materials, sign language interpreters, or accessible outreach campaigns, rendering its protections meaningless for those unable to read standard text or access public announcements.

“What use is a law,” she asked, “if you can’t read it, hear it, or even know it exists?”

During Tunisia’s nationwide COVID lockdown in 2020, the Ministry of Women recorded a sevenfold increase in calls to the national domestic violence hotline compared to the same period in 2019. 

In 2021, the Arab Women Center for Research and Training launched an initiative, “So the Invisible Becomes Visible,” in partnership with Tunisia’s Ministry of Women, Family, Children, and Seniors, at two shelters in Sidi Thabet, Ariana and Tataouine, upgrading them to support women survivors of violence with visual or hearing impairments. The renovations included infrastructure improvements and staff training to ensure the centers are accessible, inclusive to people with different communication needs, and emotionally supportive.

“Women with sensory disabilities often live in near-total isolation,” project coordinator Hedia Belhaj Youssef told More to Her Story. “They are exposed to violence in the home, at work, and in public spaces. But what makes their situation even more precarious is their lack of access to information and legal protection.”

Youssef’s team conducted in-depth interviews with women that revealed that most women with sensory impairments are unaware of their rights or the services available to them. Institutional neglect, ranging from inaccessible public facilities to untrained personnel, also constitutes a form of violence, she argued.

As Tunisia takes steps to make these invisible victims visible, activists like El Akrebbi remain cautiously hopeful. 

“We’ve waited long enough,” she said. “It's time we were seen and heard.”

A lack of awareness about the existence of the two shelters for survivors of gender-based violence with sensory disabilities remains one of the core challenges facing efforts to improve support services for these women.

El-Akrabi said stakeholders must disseminate information as widely as possible with “sustained, coordinated efforts across all sectors.”

One major concern, she added, is that women with disabilities often lack awareness of their rights and the mechanisms available to report abuse.

“Another obstacle is the persistent social stigma surrounding disability, which continues to act as a barrier to help-seeking,” she explained. “Many survivors are only officially classified as having a disability at a later stage, which complicates access to specialized care.”

The project also produced three policy papers aimed at institutionalizing long-term change. Advocates submitted one paper to the National Council of Regions and Districts to integrate the needs of people with disabilities into national development strategies. Another paper urged the Ministry of Women to explicitly include women with disabilities in its upcoming national strategy to combat violence against women. The third paper was presented to the Ministry of Higher Education, advocating for the broader teaching of sign language in universities.

The shelters have undergone extensive renovations to improve accessibility with upgraded lighting, adapted hallways, and disability-friendly signage. Staff received specialized training, and advocates developed a manual to guide them in assisting victims with visual and hearing impairments.

At the Tataouine center, manager Mariem Hajaji described how the facility was reconfigured to include three additional beds and a bathroom for women with sensory disabilities. Since its reopening in September 2023, the shelter has hosted a woman with a hearing impairment and child with a visual impairment among about 100 survivors supported in 2022.

The Sidi Thabet shelter, operated by the Tunisian Association for Social Management and Balance, also welcomed two women who are blind. The facility has 30 beds and now includes a special unit with two fully-equipped rooms, kitchen, and bathroom, designed for women with sensory impairments.

According to Amel Belhaj Moussa, Tunisia’s former Minister of Women and Family, 32 women and 27 children with disabilities were supported in 14 “safe centers” between 2022 and 2024. These centers offer temporary shelter, care, and guidance for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence.

For the first time, the updated National Strategy to Combat Violence Against Women 2025–2030 includes explicit references to women with disabilities. The ministry also plans to expand the reach of these services by establishing new partnerships with civil society organizations across Tunisia’s 24 governorates and promoting localized, community-based support.

“This is a meaningful first step toward acknowledging what has too long remained unspoken,” El Akrebbi said. “We need these efforts to be expanded to every shelter in the country.”

El Akrebbi also called for greater representation of women with disabilities in policymaking and a stronger media spotlight on their struggles and triumphs. 

“It’s not just about making space. It’s about giving voice,” she said. “We must be included in designing the strategies that are meant to protect us.”